Area north of Houston St a "lost cause" (2-5)
I believe the answer is:
no-hoper
'lost cause' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'area north of houston st a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'north' could be 'n' (synonyms) and 'n' is located in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
'a' could be 'per' and 'per' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'ho' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for no-hoper that I've seen before include "One not expected to succeed" , "One with little chance of success?" , "One with little prospect of success" , "One unlikely to succeed" , "One with no prospects" .)